The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Jonquel Jones continues to lead UMMC Ekaterinburg Foxes in the Russian Championship Premier League.

Jones led a balanced scoring effort with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists in just 28 minutes of a 40 point blowout for her team, 90-50 over Sparta & K Moscow.

She shot 5-7 from the field, 1-2 from three point range and also added two blocked shots. After a closely contested first quarter, UMMC clung to a 17-14 lead, but limited Sparta & K to just 13 points combined over the next two quarters. They outscored them 28-7 in the second and 25-8 in the third to take control for good.

UMMC looks to remain undefeated at 3-0 when they face Spartak Noginsk on October 19.

In the season opener last week, Jones led the Foxes with 35 points and 13 rebounds in an 84-72 win over Nika Syktykar. The veteran forward had a dominant shooting performance, 13-19 from the field (1-2 from three point range) and 6-7 from the free throw line.

She also had two blocked shots on the defensive end of the floor.

A stacked UMMC Ekaterinburg roster also included WNBA stars Brittney Griner and Cortney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley, Alba Torrens and Maria Vadeeva. The team recently added current WNBA Finals MVP Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm.

Following the Russian Premier League, Ekaterinburg will shift focus to the FIBA EuroLeague.

Qualifiers will played in a single venue hub in single elimination games on October 28 or 29, 2020

The regular season will be played with a new shortened competition system – four groups of four clubs in the Regular Season. Competing in Group C in the Regular Season UMMC is going to play against Famila Schio from Italy, TTT Riga from Latvia and the Winner of the qualification round. The top two clubs from each regular season group advance to the quarterfinals.

In 2018 and 2019 seasons, UMMC won the EuroLeague Champion titles. Last season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jones is in her third season with the club.

They won their second consecutive and fifth EuroLeague title with a 91-67 win over Dynamo Kursk in Sopron, Hungary in April.

Jones appeared in eight games and averaged 19.6 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. She shot 60 percent from the field, 52 percent from three point range and 80 percent from the free throw line.